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Tappin to give charity performance

The picturesque Pavilion Restaurant, at the Villas at Stonehaven in Tobago, will be the setting for an exclusive performance for charity by renowned Barbadian jazz musician Arturo Tappin and band on April 24, in a special fringe event during the annual Tobago Jazz Experience. The breezy sophistication of The Villas at Stonehaven marries well with the easy improvisational entertainment of jazz. Tappin and his band will show off their stylings, in an intimate concert that will see them moving seamlessly from mainstream jazz to smooth jazz to fusion and reggae.
Jazz enthusiasts know and love Tappin as the “smoothest, saxiest horn man” in the Caribbean—a self-invented title but nevertheless well-deserved. His dynamic, live performances, plus his ability to put on spontaneously explosive shows, have lit up stages at the Edinburgh Festival, Soho Jazz Festival, Miami AT&T Caribbean Jazz Festival, St Lucia, Antigua, Curaçao, St Kitts, St Vincent, Grenada and Barbados jazz festivals.

Tappin has laid down an outstanding track-record at Bob Marley’s Birthday Bash, the James Bond Film Festival in Jamaica, and T&T’s Independence Day celebrations in Miami. Besides touring jazz festivals the world over, he has performed for former US president Bill Clinton as well as President Barack Obama, President Fidel Castro and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. The gate proceeds for this event will go to the Yahweh Foundation, a non-govermental organisation based in the village of Buccoo. The non-profit foundation was launched in 2012. Its mission statement is: “To help young people flourish and elderly thrive, with quality-based, professional, educational, social, and spiritual support offered by the elders in our communities in Tobago.” Asked why the Yahweh Foundation was chosen, Stonehaven board member Fay Gillespie said: “The foundation provides an enriching service to young people and seniors in the community.

“For those youngsters at risk and without enough of a structured life, Yahweh encourages them to reap the benefits of staying in school. Yahweh sees the seniors as the link to the community’s heritage. “We at Stonehaven see this ‘marriage’ of the young and old as one way to start the process of taking back family and community life, to address the powerlessness felt by the young generation and redress the neglect sensed by our older citizens. “We consider it so vitally important to contribute to community development programmes, especially those that focus on education and culture, that we have opted to donate all ticket proceeds from Arturo’s concert to the work of the Yahweh Foundation.” Tickets will be available at the venue from April 14 and from RT Morsehead Gourmet Foods Ltd; Mt Pleasant Bethany, and the board members of the Yahweh Foundation. Advance purchases will be discounted. A limited number of tickets will be sold at the gate on the night of the event.